Hey all, I have a 95 Honda Accord and my driver side upper control arm balljoint is not in a good shape. When I look at it, the rubber part is torn apart, there are no more lube inside the joint. So my question is would it be still safe to drive in a long distant? I'm planning to go on a trip roughly 400 miles round trip. Would the joint make it? Its been like that quite some times now, and the car is lowered as well.

Thank you

 

well considering how long its been like that, then 400 miles really isnt too bad..
But you really should get to changing that and your control arm bushings (if needed) as soon as you get a chance..

Hell, it might be cheaper to just change the entire control arm..

 

I think its been like that for at least 6000 miles lol. I been asking around and the price is for one is around 65 to 89 buck(@ Autozone with lifetime warranty). Debating if I should get it at Autozone. Since my car is lowered, the edge of the arm always worn off due to rubbing against the frame. So not sure if the warranty still valid...

You guys think it is ok to buy from Autozone or Pepboys comparing to the one that mechanic shop get from?

 

i got the whole upper control arm from tas auto for $65. if the car is lowered they even sell a pair for $300 that is supposedly better for lowered cars. i dont know if you would want to spend that much though.

 

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Shops get their parts from Autozona, Advance, CarQuest, etc. and then tack on a HUGE cost. Your mechanic will probably charge you a $30 premium at the minimum for the SAME part you could buy for cheaper.

 

I would definitely purchase the parts elsewhere..
Rockauto has it for much cheaper (and whole control arms) and TAS auto is a great website..

 

considering how Easy it is to change the control arm and how inexpensive it is... I'd Go ahead and change it. I got mine from pep boys for $75 and about 30,000 miles later..still holding strong

 

Thanks for the comments all. I did looked into TAS auto and they got the same price as most mechanic shop quoted me. I probably will go to pep boys and get it since they offer life time warranty on those for little bit extra money, kind of like the same as shipping instead lol. Thanks again

 

For what it's worth (or not worth), I put an aftermarket one in my 90 and it didn't last two years. Replaced both at 273,000 with Honda parts. The boots were torn on my 93 EX, but the joints were still tight, so I replaced just the boots and repacked the joints with grease before installing them.